As taken from IrishAbroad



The thing about 'The Thing'
by Dougal Hazel on 02 November 2010 22:11PM

" ' Hamlet: Act 2, scene 2.................... I'll have grounds

More relative than this

The play's the thing

Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.'


The Viking' Thing' was an assembly, which acted as a court of law. At which trials were held crimes were punished, people were sentenced and even put to death. From the election of a King to the more mundane decisions of local government the ' Thing ' ruled. Held about twice a year in Spring and Autumn and lasting for a week, Thing's became an important social events. In Dublin the Thingmote (Thingmount) was a raised mound, 40 foot high and 240 foot in circumference. Located on the south side of the river Liffey, between Suffolk Street and St. Andrew's Street Church (now Dublin's main tourist information office).The mound lasted until 1685 CE and once had steps or terraces similar to other Norse,Thing mounds. Dublin settled by Vikings in 841 CE, first as a fortified camp, then becoming a Norse town and eventually a city, had at it's heart the Thingmote. Down through the centuries, even with the increasing size of the city, the area of the Thingmote was deemed common ground by the municipal authorities. Who in 1635 CE reinforced its position in Dublin's landscape, as a place where people could take the air. It remained an open area until 1661 CE, when it became part leased to Dr. Henry Jones, Bishop of Meath. Finally in 1682 CE after coming into the possession of Sir William Davis, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench and Recorder of the city, permission was granted to have it removed. It's earth becoming land fill for the raising of Nassau Street, then called Saint Patrick's Well Lane.